Ral Partha History
The Origins of Ral Partha
How we arrived at the name Ral Partha.
In 1975, a group of gamers including myself were approached by a young man of 15. This young man is named Tom Meier. Tom sculpted figures for a company in Dayton, Ohio. Tom's figures were far superior to any others being sculpted. Yet, Tom was getting paid about half of what other older sculptors were earning. This inequity was solved by the forming of a new miniatures company.
None of the partners in what has since become known as Ral Partha had any experience in molding, casting or packaging miniature figurines. We pulled our money and bought a casting machine, pot, vulcanizer, ladle, mold rings, molds and locater studs. Now, we had to learn how to use them. It was strictly trial and error. We made many mistakes while learning our business.
Our business was located in a basement at a partner's home. We had to find sources for metal and our resources for purchasing anything were very meager. We transported this metal in our cars. Over the next few years, thousands of pounds of metal arrived by Volkswagon Beetle.
We mixed our own alloy, using a 100-pound bar of lead, 20 to 23 pounds of tin, and four or five handfuls of Linotype. Then, you stirred and stirred and stirred. When a mold was made right it was pure luck. When it wasn't made right, it was the norm. The cat used the linotype box as its kitty-litter box and while the linotype melted, the stench was terrible. At the time, we thought linotype had its own distinctive odor. We didn't realize it was the cat.
One time, I cast dungeon accessories for the entire day and filled several boxes. The stuff being cast really didn't look like a keeper. I melted it all down. To my dismay, that was how it was supposed to look.
Another time, I made a mold with the plastic still on the interior top half. After vulcanization, the melted plastic made the mold and all the masters unusable.
When Tom Meier got his drivers license, he backed out and hit the side of the house.
With our twenty products all packaged in plain brown boxes, we went to our first gaming convention as Ral Partha. Gen Con 1975 was an interesting experience. Miniaturists from around the country got to see the products from our new miniature company. We sold out of everything we brought with us. In spite of ourselves, we built our company on quality and you (our customers) rewarded our efforts.
Ral Partha was a name made up by John Winkler. John is a friend of Tom Meier. John was playing the original D & D in high school. He had a wizard character he named RAL-PARTHA. He came up with this name because he thought it Middle Eastern sounding. RAL-PARTHA was extremely successful and it was hoped some of this success would spill over into the fledgling miniature company. The hyphen was somehow dropped.
John Winkler was not. John graduated high school and college with a teaching certificate. Instead of teaching, John has been employed at Ral Partha since May, 1980. By the way, if you are a gaming club member, John's picture is on the Partha Bonus Money. John has been affectionately known as "Ral" these past 21 years.
Jack Hesselbrock
President
Ral Partha Enterprises, Inc.
Sourced from: www.theminiaturespage.com
Licensees and Distributors
As early as 1979 Citadel Miniatures acquired the license to produce and distribute Ral Partha figures in Britain. Citadel Miniatures attempted to establish a U.S. division in 1982 with Ral Partha as the local manufacturer. However, by 1984 the Citadel Miniatures were brought under the Ral Partha logo and marketed as Ral Partha Imports. In 1985 the import lines included the FTx-xx Fantasy Tribes, FAx-xx Fantasy Adventurer, FF/31-xxx Fiend Factory, FS/32-xx Fantasy Special, the popular WF-xx Weird Fantasy series with whimsical themes, FMM-xx Fantasy Mysterious Miniatures, and LB-xx Tabletop's Laser Burn line of space marines. Historical lines included Romans AR-xx, Dark Ages DA-xx, Medievals M-xxx and Samurai SAM-xx. At least two figures (FTT 3 Troll hurling rock and FTT 4 Troll in chainmail with scimitar) were sculpted by Tom Meier while visiting England in 1981.
The co-operative relationship between Ral Partha and Citadel Miniatures appears to have dissolved in the mid-1980s. Collectors have noted that as early as 1984 Ral Partha had begun replacing the Citadel figures in the "Imports" line with new sculpts. In 1986 Minifigs gained the rights to manufacture and distribute their fantasy range in Britain. The following year Ral Partha dropped Citadel Miniatures' historical lines and began to distribute Denizen Miniatures' dwarves (33-xxx), orcs (34-xxx), 36-xxx Legion of the Damned skeletons and 39-xxx Fantastic Adventurers.
In 1980 Ral Partha licensed select designs to Rawcliffe Pewter for the gift-ware market. That same year Ral Partha established a licensing agreement with RAFM, a Canadian miniatures manufacturer. It was probably about that time, and at least by 1989 that Jeux Descartes of Paris, France gained the rights to distribute Ral Partha figures in Continental Europe. Some early Ral Partha advertisements give the name as Jeaux Descartes. The relationship was on-going in 1997, but was probably severed when FASA purchased Ral Partha the following year.
Product Codes
Only a product code marked Ral Partha's early packaging and customers required a contemporary catalog in order to identify the miniature. In late 1979 the company switched from product codes using descriptive letter and number codes to a numeric system. For example the first figures of the series "Personalities and Things that Go Bump in the Night", "ES-001 Evil Wizard, casting spell" became 01-001, and the first figure of the 15th century Renaissance series "1501 Command Set" became 54-001. The change was not universal. Ral Partha used letter codes for Citadel Miniatures and Denizen Miniatures in their line of Ral Partha Imports until 1992. Ral Partha's international partners used their own systems. RAFM of Canada used the descriptive product codes as late as 1984. Jeux Descartes, initially used Ral Partha's numeric codes on packaging of their own design for blisters and early box sets. However, new lines were introduced selectively and given sequential codes which differed from those used in the United States.
Throughout the companies history, figures were modified to improve reproducibility, unpopular designs were re-sculpted, and existing product codes were used for new designs. A common cause of modification was a level of detail or animation which challenged the casting technology. An industry-wide reorientation of scale from 25mm to 30mm in the late 1990s, and interest in removing lines from artist's royalties, also prompted new sculpts of existing lines.
Few of Ral Partha's miniatures were marked with product codes and the company's advertisements and catalogs remain a critical resource for collectors. Advertisements by Ral Partha and its British and Canadian partners appear in most editions of TSR Inc.'s Dragon and Games Workshop's White Dwarf magazines. Annual catalogs were published between 1978 to 1980, 1982 to 1987, and in 2000. There does not appear to have been a 1981 catalog. The 1980 catalog was delayed to the end of the year by the company's relocation to Carthage Court, and the collage of past covers on the 1995 20th Anniversary catalog does not include an image for that year. The 1985 catalog was split in two, one for fantasy and science fiction miniatures and another for historical games. In addition, Ral Partha released Christmas catalogs in 1982 and 1983, Imports catalog in 1984, 1996 historical catalog, combined 1998/1999 catalog, 2000 Direct Mail Catalog, and numerous order forms which contain all the figures in production.
History
Ral Partha Enterprises was formed in 1975 by 16-year-old sculptor Tom Meier, Jack Hesselbrock, Marc Rubin, Rich Smethurst, Glenn E. Kidd, and Chuck Crain in order to produce Meier's figures. Meier pioneered the sculpture of miniatures in E-Pox-E Putty, a two-part ribbon epoxy designed for automotive repair, which held detail better than traditional media. The company was a fusion of the established hobby of historical wargaming and the growth of role-playing games among young people. The company was named after "Ral-Partha" a Dungeons & Dragons wizard created by Tom's young friend John Winkler. Like their popular line of "3-stage characters," Ral Partha has had a trio of aspects. The first was a Winkler's gaming character, depicted as ES-001 Evil Wizard, casting spell. Then as "Ral" Winkler himself, who became the company's chief caster. Lastly, "Ral" was the company's totemic progenitor credited with collaborative projects and depicted as 10-412 Lord of the Balrogs.
Products were originally cast in the basement of 3642 Hyde Park Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio, the home of one of the owners. In the spring of 1978 the company relocated to 3726 Lonsdale Avenue, and then was briefly at 2732 Lonsdale Avenue. By November 1980 Ral Partha had relocated to industrial space at 5938 Carthage Court, where it remained until 2001.
Ral Partha's formative years were the late 1970s, when the company was a part-time basement enterprise producing the art of a teen-age sculptor for a nascent gaming market. In 1979 the company became a full-time endeavor with two professional sculptors designing products for multiple themes made popular by the rapidly expanding gaming market. The number of sculptors and catalog of miniatures grew rapidly. In the mid-1980s the preponderance of work moved from Ral Partha's sculptors' lines to manufacturing for nationally-marketed games. In the short-run the move was economically beneficial. However, the lack of product diversity left the company vulnerable to the marketing decisions of clients for whom miniatures were a minor interest. Ral Partha's final years were spent as a subsidiary of large game producers, until the core of the company was recast as Iron Wind Metals in 2001.
